The house was quite ordinary looking. It wasn't in the middle of the city, more on the outskirts, towards the docks, in a quieter part which was more like a little village. Whoever lived here definitely shared Achilles's fondness of being out of the way. Lisa stood there for a few minutes before knocking and took a deep breath before doing so softly.

She heard soft footsteps before the sound of the lock clicking and then the door swung open.

'Hello?'

Lisa took in who was standing before her. It was a man, a tall man, who looked to be in his twenties. He had dark brown hair which was cut quite short apart from on top where it sat softly against his forehead. He wasn't clean shaven but rather had some stubble. But that wasn't what caught Lisa's attention.

It was his captivating grey eyes.

'Hi, my name is Lisa Farrow.' Lisa began quietly, trying to be covert. 'I'm here because Achilles Starling said I would be safe here.'

The man blinked a few times, making no attempt to hide his surprise. 'Wow. I haven't heard that name in a long time. If Achilles sent you here then you must really be in trouble. Come in.'

Lisa stepped cautiously into the house afraid to touch anything. Still looking at the man, she spoke up softly. 'Who are you, exactly?'

'I'm surprised Achilles hasn't mentioned me, actually, scratch that, I'm not surprised at all. My name is Aster Starling, I'm Achilles's brother.'

'Nice to meet you, Aster.' Lisa wasn't actually that surprised Achilles hadn't mentioned Aster, she was just more surprised that he actually had a brother.

'So Lisa, who are you to my brother? You're obviously quite important to him if he has sent you all the way to me.'

Lisa scratched her chin, looking down and the carpet. 'That's actually a bit of a tricky question at the moment. I suppose I would say girlfriend, but we're not exactly on the best of terms so maybe I'll just say poor unfortunate who is currently knocked up?'

Aster looked at her sideways, 'Oh, that makes sense as to why he'd want to keep you safe.'

'Because of his past?'

'Exactly.' Aster nodded. There was something in the way he projected himself that was less intense than Achilles. Maybe it was just his manner but Aster seemed a lot more relaxed than Achilles, and a lot less intimidating. Lisa had barely known the guy two minutes and she was already starting to feel relaxed in his company.

'So, are you an incubus?' Lisa said, following Aster in to the kitchen as he motioned for her to come in. She knew it was probably a strange question to ask, but he seemed like the most human incubus she had met.

'I am indeed, I suppose you're wondering why you're not getting any of those weird vibes that you normally get with an incubus. Tea?'

'Yes please.' Lisa smiled, 'And yes, I suppose I am wondering that.'

'Very simple.' Aster turned, switched on the kettle and turned back around. 'I am very good at concealing it, being half human helps with that. Also, you're pregnant with another incubus's child, so you're all hyped up on that right now, judging from what I know, if Achilles tried to get in your head he could do it very easily, probably just by touching you, even by accident.'

Lisa felt a pang in her chest. Achilles hadn't actually been trying to take control of her, it had just happened, and she had turned on him for it. He obviously hadn't meant to hurt her or upset her and she hadn't even let him have the benefit of the doubt like he had with her so many times.

'Aster, I've done something terrible.' Lisa,said a lump forming in her throat. 'I'm the reason Hercules have Achilles, he's probably going to die because of me, and there's-'

'Hey, hey Lisa, look, I know my brother and I know that he has withstood stuff worse than this, also if you did something so bad and he still sent you to me, I think he is probably more concerned for your safety than his. Hercules aren't going to kill him, he's worth way more to them alive.'

'I don't know what to do.' Lisa put her head in her hands.

Aster smiled softly and placed a cup of tea in front of her. 'Look, calm down, everything will be alright, okay? So just drink some, try to relax and then maybe you can tell me all about how you an Achilles met.'

In context of the story, it sounded quite humorous when spoken back. Aster laughed when Lisa told him, and she suppose the nice company made her feel a little less terrible.

'I can imagine you got the shock of your life when he showed up instead of some nice, normal incubus.' Aster said, laughing.

'Yeah it was pretty intense alright.'

'Achilles is a very intense guy.'

'Has....Has he always been like that?' Lisa looked up from staring at the edge of the cup and into Aster's pale grey eyes.

His smile reduced slightly and his became a bit more serious. 'Not exactly.' he said. 'After the whole thing with Hire an Incubus and Hercules happened, he kind of went a bit off the rails. Then a few more things happened and he just changed slightly. I think, going through some of the stuff he went through, he lost a bit of himself, and he can't get it back. And no matter how many people he has tried to make pay, he still won't get it back.' His eyes were sad and far away.

'What happened to him Aster?'

Aster looked away briefly. 'He hasn't told you?'

'He's told me some, but he won't tell me the full story, I think that even though he said he does, I don't think he trusts me.'

'Don't take that personally Lisa, Achilles doesn't fully trust anyone except himself, not even me.'

'Why, is that because of what happened to him?'

Aster shifted a bit and looked Lisa in the eyes again. 'Lisa, I know he hasn't told you the full story and you've only heard pieces from different sides but basically, when he got that girl pregnant, all hell broke loose. Damian, who you are probably well acquainted with at this stage was in a tricky position because if news about it got out, he would lose his job. So he got in contact with Hercules, and he got taken in by Hire an Incubus for questioning, and when he refused to tell them anything about the girl, Damian got angry with him and beat him within an inch of his life. He went absolutely crazy then, like this whole other side of Achilles came out and then Hercules had to take him in. He didn't speak to them for two weeks and they probably didn't tell you this but they tortured him, they did some terrible stuff to him.'

'Oh that's horrible, what did they do? I hope they're not doing it to him now.'

'I don't know what they did, he won't go into it, I don't think he likes talking about it. Anyway, they tried to find out information about him, who his family was, so they had some kind of leverage on him, but then instead, they found the girl and they killed her and the unborn child and then they told him, and he freaked out, killed a couple of them if I remember correctly. Then when he escaped, he went right to Damian, to get some kind of revenge and then Damian tried to kill him again but instead this time, he sent him straight to hell.'

'Like hell as in the metaphorical sense?'

'No, like the literal sense.' Aster looked sad. He took a deep breath. 'The worst part was, none of us actually knew about it until our father got this feeling, he couldn't really describe it, but he knew that Achilles was in trouble, so both of us had to go down to Hell and look for him.'

'Oh gosh, what was that like?'

'It was dreadful Lisa, when we found him, he was in a state which I can only describe as insane. His eyes had gone red, and he was this completely different version of himself, he kept screaming about revenge and murder and it wasn't until he came back to the human world that he slightly calmed down and then he started to come back to himself. He wouldn't talk to anyone except our father about what he saw and he kept switching between states for months until he stopped and then when he finally was back to normal, he left.'

'Left?'

'He disappeared, just up and left from our parent's house and didn't come back, we couldn't contact him, he didn't say where he was going and what he was doing and then you show up and that's the first I have heard from him in a while.'

Lisa was horrified. 'How long has it been?'

'About four years.'

'Four years?' Lisa echoed. 'That's so long.'

'I know.' Aster said quietly. 'That's you all up to speed.'

'Thank you for telling me Aster.'

'No problem Lisa. I just hope he's not in some state when he comes back.'

'You think he'll get out out?'

Aster looked Lisa dead in the eye and nodded. 'Of course he will, if you're pregnant with his child and he's mad at you, he's definitely going to come back for you.'

Sorry it's a little short, this is the start of Part 2! I couldn't decide whether to do a whole separate book or just to split it into parts and the latter won out so here we are! I was so excited to write Aster, he's definitely one of my favourite characters to write. Also, this story made the Wattys long list which is absolutely mind-blowing to me. It might not even be that massive of an achievement compared to other stories on wattpad but it is a huge deal to me and I want to say thanks to everyone who supported this story!

- C xx